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DE RUEHFR #2309/01 3571553
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 221553Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5121
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNISL/ISLAMIC COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 002309 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PLEASE PASS H AND EUR/WE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL SCUL SOCI FR
SUBJECT: STAFFDEL WEIL MEETINGS IN PARIS ON PUBLIC OUTREACH 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  Lynne Weil, Communications Director for the 
House Foreign Affairs Committee, received a 
comprehensive overview of Embassy Paris' active 
Muslim and diversity outreach programs in a series 
of meetings with embassy, government, NGO and media 
representatives December 8-10.  Public Affairs 
programs -- from grants to International Visitor 
(IV) programs to providing space for meetings and 
events -- have produced tangible results, French 
interlocutors said.  At an Embassy roundtable, Weil 
heard from activists who are applying best practices 
learned during IV programs and using U.S. grants to 
promote cooperation, integration and minority 
participation in France's political life.  In Paris' 
poorer suburbs, local government and media experts 
described to Weil the challenges people of immigrant 
and minority origin face with respect to equal 
opportunity.  In addition to representing the USG at 
an Aid-al-Adha service in Drancy (a former staging 
point for Holocaust deportations and now a community 
with a large Muslim population and an imam committed 
to interfaith dialogue), Weil also met with a 
variety of social entrepreneurs, scholars and imam 
trainers to discuss the impact of USG public 
diplomacy programs.  End Summary. 
 
Embassy Programs Help in 19th District 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  Embassy support has been essential to promoting 
integration and cooperation in Paris' mixed 19th 
district, one of the district's deputy mayors, Adji 
Ahoudian, told Weil at an Embassy roundtable 
discussion December 8.  The 19th is Paris' most 
diverse area, with large groups of new immigrants 
from Asia and North Africa as well as newcomers from 
Afghanistan and Iraq living side by side with 
Europe's largest Jewish community.  French official 
institutions provide very limited support for 
the district's integration and conciliation 
initiatives, Ahoudian said, emphasizing that he 
communicates closely with the Embassy's public 
affairs staff to discuss ideas.  Aboudian, an IV 
alumnus, is in charge of the new "To Live Together" 
project, whose goal is to increase understanding and 
reduce the potential for clashes among the 
district's disparate communities.  An uptick in gang 
violence this fall in the 19th has added urgency to 
the matter.  Yet USG-sponsored visits from the 
Freedom Writers Foundation, the Interfaith Youth 
Corps, U.S. urban civic groups, and representatives 
from the U.S. nonprofit "Youthville" have helped 
bolster the "Together" project, Aboudian said. 
 
¶3.  Not all young people of immigrant origin are as 
politically engaged as Ahoudian, said Faycal 
Douhane, a Socialist Party (PS) activist who is 
trying to increase political involvement among 
minorities across all party lines.  Douhane urged 
the United States to continue to provide grants for 
worthwhile projects and to keep sending young 
community leaders on IV programs.  Such activities 
help encourage greater political involvement, 
particularly among sectors of the population that 
have been underrepresented in France's leadership 
echelons.  USG programs have already been successful 
at "identifying people who will eventually take 
positions of power in France, people who will change 
things," Douhane noted. 
 
Embassy as Network Enhancer 
--------------------------- 
 
¶4.  The subjects of change and integration were 
front and center at a working breakfast December 9 
hosted by the CAO with several activists from French 
non-profit organizations.  The representatives 
described Embassy Paris as fulfilling a convening 
role and helping to build networks, both across the 
Atlantic and within France.  Marie Trellu, who helps 
to manage Uniscite, an AmeriCorps-style NGO for 
French youths, said the USG helped her group to 
identify a site for the National Youth Services 
Conference in November.  Marie-Christine Rimbault, 
head of the "Nos Quartiers Nos Talents" NGO aimed at 
creating private sector opportunity for minority 
youths, praised USG involvement in helping her 
 
PARIS 00002309  002 OF 003 
 
 
organization reach a "diversity agreement" on equal 
employment opportunity with the EuroDisney theme 
park outside Paris. 
 
¶5.  Meanwhile, the editor-in-chief of Respect 
Magazine, Marc Cheb Sun, described his connection to 
the embassy as "intense."  Respect's editorial 
mission is to build tolerance and acceptance among 
France's various ethnic and immigrant-origin 
communities.  He praised the "intellectual exchange" 
he enjoys with public affairs staff on issue 
content.  In addition, Cheb Sun said the embassy 
helped him cement contacts with civic groups in the 
United States who were essential partners as his 
editorial staff assembled an "America A-to-Z" issue 
of Respect.  The magazine's circulation is roughly 
60,000, and it maintains two Internet news sites. 
 
Social Entrepreneurs: Help Us Meet 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  Creating a more equitable playing field for 
minority-owned businesses is among the current 
concerns at the La Ruche center for social 
entrepreneurs, the organization's representatives 
told Weil December 9.  Note:  "La Ruche" means bee 
hive in French.  The center opened this year on a 
membership basis; the members are business people 
who want to use entrepreneurial methods to address 
systemic social problems in France.  End note. 
Majid El Jaroudi, a member, told Weil that one key 
focus at present for La Ruche is a report on 
supplier diversity, or the extent to which minority- 
owned businesses win government contracts for 
construction, services or in other areas.  With 
respect to how public affairs programs could help 
advance La Ruche's goals, El Jaroudi stressed the 
importance of the U.S. Embassy's ability to convene 
various interested parties for meetings.  He thanked 
the embassy for hosting a major training event for 
French social entrepreneurs at the Ambassador's 
Residence earlier this year, and for helping to 
sponsor the upcoming supplier diversity conference. 
 
Blogs, Scholars and Imam Trainers 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  Weil also had discussions during her visit with 
the editors-in-chief of Safirnews.com, Oumma.com, 
and Bondy Blog, all of whom have traveled to the 
United States on exchange programs.  The cyber journalists 
outlined their views on current challenges facing 
French Muslims and other minorities, underlining 
that job opportunities and instilling a sense of 
hope are essential for young and disadvantaged 
populations.  Weil received a briefing at the Museum 
of Immigration History from the institution's 
director, who stressed the importance of mounting 
exhibits that demystify and place value on the 
experiences of France's millions of immigrants 
(minority French high schoolers touring the museum 
were overheard commenting enthusiastically on the 
recent U.S. elections). 
 
¶8.  Combating anti-Semitism and anti-Islamic 
sentiments in France were the main topics of a 
working lunch with a pair of scholars December 9. 
Weil also heard from Youth Ambassador and high 
school student Idris Sisaid about the benefits of a 
U.S. exchange program in which he participated.  In 
a meeting about Imam training, Mohamed Ali Bouharb 
of the military chaplaincy -- who also benefited 
from an embassy exchange program -- emphasized that 
the U.S. Embassy plays a special role in expanding 
the network of French movers and shakers in the 
field of diversity.  "The only place France's top 
Muslims all gather at once is at the U.S. 
Ambassador's residence for the Iftar dinner," he 
commented to Weil.  He also urged the Embassy to 
continue to support the process of interfaith 
dialogue. 
 
¶9.  In meetings at the Embassy, Public Affairs staff 
outlined the active minority outreach programs they 
conduct with very limited resources.  The programs 
put a special emphasis on the U.S. experience in 
civil rights and in managing diversity, given the 
many challenges France still faces in this regard. 
The results of the programs have been positive, with 
a wide array of French interlocutors -- many of whom 
 
PARIS 00002309  003 OF 003 
 
 
Weil met on this visit -- expressing appreciation 
for and interest in U.S. models of integration. 
Working with French partners, Public Affairs staff 
have helped put U.S. best practices to work to ease 
tension and promote social cohesion in disadvantaged 
communities where the need is most intense. 
PEKALA